Ankara - Turkish deputies yesterday opened the way for a parliamentary debate to remove the military judge from the court where the Kurdish guerrilla leader, Mr Abdullah Ocalan, is on trial for his life.
The assembly's constitutional commission approved a draft law under which a military judge would no longer sit on the panel of three presiding in state security courts. "We have done what was required of us. It is now the parliament's turn," commission head Mr Ertugrul Yalcinbayir said.
The Prime Minister, Mr Bulent Ecevit, is among 343 parliamentarians who have signed the draft change in the constitutional law, with the aim of accelerating its passage before Mr Ocalan is sentenced. The European Court of Human Rights has said the presence of the military judge casts doubt on the court's impartiality.